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Immediately after the vote, a Palestinian flag was unfurled on the floor the General Assembly, the Associated Press reported.

In his speech, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said told the General Assembly that it was “being asked today to issue the birth certificate of Palestine.”

While short of full member status, the upgraded status will allow the Palestinians to join several UN agencies and treaties, such as the International Criminal Court (ICC), where the Palestinians could bring criminal charges against Israel.

The Palestinians failed to gain full UN statehood status last year after the U.S. threatened to veto the initiative in the Security Council.

“Abbas’s speech proves once more, for anyone who needed more proof, that we are dealing with an enemy who has no desire or intention to make peace” Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said.

Earlier in the day, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking at the Brookings Institution, said the U.S. believes the resolution will “do nothing to advance the peace and the two-state solution we all want to see,” NBC News reported.

Jewish groups also spoke out against the vote.

“The United Nations General Assembly recklessly set back the chances for peace between Israelis and Palestinians today,” read a statement from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Notably, the UK abstained from the vote after it failed to receive assurances that the Palestinians would immediately return to negotiations and wouldn’t pursue criminal charges against Israel in the International Criminal Court.

While the vote is a major political setback for the U.S. and Israel, many analysts believe that it is largely a symbolic, with only real Palestinian independence being achieved through negotiations. However, it could provide a boost for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose power and relevance within Palestinian politics has diminished at the expense of Hamas.

A live stream of the proceedings at the United Nations can be viewed below.

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The Czech vote was interesting. Why do many Czechs empathise with Israel ?

The Czech capital Prague is very beautiful. It is proof that the Czech people throughout the ages have been motivated to defend, improve and preserve their little corner of Planet Earth. They have retained their language, art, culture, holidays and traditions yet have evolved into a modern, independent state. They have a commitment and loyalty to the territory that G-d led them to live in. But even the most secular of Czechs of today, and the nation is consistently voted the least “religious” in Europe, must understand that if they do not do good deeds and act well they and their land will suffer. (Quite a spiritual concept, yes ?)

The 195 nations and the other zones/regions of the world are like pieces of a vast, interesting, complex jigsaw puzzle. The word “nation” is mentioned over 300 times in the Tanach, so the concept of a nation state seems divinely mandated. For the Holy Land and environs people should think of the following co-operative configuration/paradigm…

The Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary
The Old City
Judea and Samaria/The West Bank
The State of Israel
Gaza
Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia.